Are we forgetting about Pearl Harbor?

With each passing year, we lose more of the Greatest Generation, and with it, America’s remaining World War II veterans. The U.S. Veterans Administration estimates these vets are dying at a rate of 600 a day.

But right now, even though their median age is 92, there are still nearly 1.5 million of them still living. Not that you could tell that from TV coverage. This Saturday is Pearl Harbor Day, the 72nd anniversary of the Japanese attack on our naval base in Hawaii, killing 2,402 people and drawing the country into World War II. And what is the History Channel showing? The morning hours have an airing of “Tora! Tora! Tora!” and a new special, “Pearl Harbor: 24 Hours After,” but the bulk of the day is given over to marathons of the “Hatfields & McCoys” miniseries and “Pawn Stars.”

Local PBS affiliate WMHT has no related content, while Turner Classic Movies turns over its programming from noon to 8 p.m. to war-themed films like the classic Pearl Harbor-set “From Here to Eternity,” but prime time is another story. Meanwhile, the Military Channel doesn’t go too far afield from its normal subject matter with an all-day tour through World War II history.

So, is television just reflecting life? Has the public either grown weary of remembering the “Day of Infamy,” or has too much time passed and too many involved parties passed on? Surely the 75th anniversary will bring with it more focus and special events, but 72 years is a long, long time for our short-attention-span 21st century lives. Still, few today would argue that 9/11 should still be memorialized in 2073. And even Dec. 7, 1941, came 72 years after 1869, which was four years after the end of the Civil War. That’still kind of a big deal.

Take a second to vote in our poll below and tell us whether we are giving the proper emphasis to Pearl Harbor, both on television and in real life.

Is Pearl Harbor Day getting enough respect in today's world?

No. "Remember Pearl Harbor" has no expiration date.

Yes. There have been many wars and battles throughout our 237-year history. Why is this one any more important?

I'm torn. The men and women who fought and died for us will always deserve to be commemorated, but maybe for World War II's triumphant end not its tragic beginning.

8 Responses

I understand newspapers and TV and radio stations deciding not to commemorate Pearl Harbor every year. The stories all sound the same, and after so many years I can see the editors saying, “Why do the same story again?”

Yet every story in the media is the same story rehashed. Car wrecks, fires, murders, people dying of cancer, volunteers serving Thanksgiving meals to the needy, terrorist attacks, etc. … We’ve all read those stories dozens of times, yet the media keep running them with new names and faces.

So keep doing Pearl Harbor stories even though they sound like last year’s Pearl Harbor story. Those 1.5 million veterans deserve it, not to mention their relatives, friends, all other veterans and the rest of us, who need reminding every now and then.

Tom: Your analogy, while well-meaning is not valid because the events you are describing are not the same.

Every story in the news is not the same story rehashed. They don’t keep reporting the same car crash or fire every year on the anniversary of the event and just because James Dean was in a sports car crash and Paul Walker, the actor from the Fast and the Furious film franchise, also died in a car accident, that doesn’t mean that the latter is any less newsworthy than the former just because its the same kind of accident.

Why don’t we have more stories about Pearl Harbor? Gee, I don’t know…maybe because the Military Channel and the History Channel run World War II documentaries every day seven days a week?

I am a HUGE history buff, indeed I studied history and literature for my master’s degree, however, because I am a history buff I also know that the aforementioned channels give the Pacific War in WWII PLENTY of coverage all year round.

So, Pearl Harbor hasn’t been forgotten, however, if you are looking to remember it just once a year, then I would say that Pearl Harbor has indeed been forgotten.

Having a television special air on a cable channel dedicated to all-things military is certainly not the same as a nation commemorating an event that resulted into this country’s entry into the last world war.
Sadly, it is likely that many children, and young adults, too, would struggle to correctly respond to questions about Pearl Harbor, such as, “Who was the aggressor?” “When did it occur?” or “Locate Pearl Harbor on a map/globe.” George Santayana was right.